Home to 5.91 million people, Wisconsin is the 20th-largest of the 51 US states (with the District of Columbia). Households, home values, education, business density, and which trades are already crowded, all from Census data.
The state contains 13 metro areas, from Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI (1.57 million people) down to the smallest listed at the end of this page.
Owner-occupied homes carry a median value of $266,500, 20 percent below the national figure; the national comparison point is $332,700. The median household in Wisconsin earns $77,485 a year, 4 percent below the national figure (the US median is $80,734). Both figures matter for pricing and for which offers land.
Among adults 25 and over, 33.4% have at least a bachelor's degree, 2 points below the US share. Work: 3,132,770 in the labor force, 3.2% unemployed (2 points below the US share). Owner-occupied housing 67.8%, 3 points above the US share, which is the figure home-service advertisers should watch. Age first: the median is 40.2, 1.3 years above the national median.
Compared with Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI: income is about the same as the Milwaukee metro figure, home values are 13 percent lower than the Milwaukee metro figure, and business density is 3 percent thinner than the Milwaukee metro figure.
The establishment count for Wisconsin is 144,774. Density runs 24.5 businesses for every 1,000 residents, in line with the national figure. The home-services slice is 7,729 establishments, 5.3% of the base, about the same as the US share.
| Trade | Establishments | Per 100,000 residents | vs US mix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurants and other eating places | 10,230 | 173 | 0.96× |
| Physicians' offices | 3,227 | 54.6 | 0.85× |
| Personal care services (all) | 2,682 | 45.3 | 0.96× |
| Landscaping services | 2,490 | 42.1 | 1.22× |
| General freight trucking | 2,355 | 39.8 | 1.16× |
| Legal services | 1,972 | 33.3 | 0.63× |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 1,944 | 32.9 | 1.01× |
| Dentists | 1,902 | 32.2 | 0.81× |
| General automotive repair | 1,871 | 31.6 | 1.27× |
| Beauty salons | 1,592 | 26.9 | 1.09× |
| Child day care services | 1,588 | 26.8 | 1.12× |
| Lessors of real estate (all) | 1,504 | 25.4 | 0.64× |
| Electrical contractors | 1,459 | 24.7 | 1.01× |
| Grocery and convenience retailers | 1,137 | 19.2 | 0.66× |
| Automobile dealers | 977 | 16.5 | 1.20× |
| Concrete foundation and structure contractors | 716 | 12.1 | 1.77× |
| Other specialty trade contractors (paving, asphalt, fencing) | 621 | 10.5 | 0.84× |
| Roofing contractors | 499 | 8.4 | 1.13× |
| Highway, street and bridge construction | 154 | 2.6 | 0.96× |
| Self-storage facilities | 143 | 2.4 | 0.44× |
The last column divides the local share of establishments by the national share (1.00 = the same mix as the US).
Crowded categories in Wisconsin: concrete contractors, general automotive repair, landscaping services and automobile dealers. Concrete contractors show it most, with 716 establishments, 1.8 times the share nationwide. The thin end of the table is self-storage operators, legal services, real estate lessors and grocery stores. With 143 locations, self-storage operators sit at about 44% of the national share. Plumbing and HVAC contractors, roofing contractors and electrical contractors sit near their national proportions.
The most numerous of the listed trades: restaurants with 10,230 establishments, then physicians' offices (3,227) and personal care services (2,682). On a per-capita basis restaurants come first at 173 per 100,000, ahead of physicians' offices and personal care services. Taken as groups, the strongest relative to the US mix are automotive businesses (1.2 times the national share) and the weakest are legal services (about 63% of).
For concrete contractors, general automotive repair and landscaping services, expect the Google Ads auction to be contested: more advertisers per search means higher cost per click and a real premium on ad relevance, landing-page quality and call tracking that proves which keywords produce jobs. With self-storage operators, legal services and real estate lessors in short supply, the map pack often has room; a complete listing and a handful of recent reviews can put a business in it. With a median age 1.3 years above the national median, the classic path of search, reviews and a phone call still carries most of the business.
Six places to begin in Wisconsin; the complete list is one click away.
A website that loads fast, states the offer and gets the visitor to the phone.
Around-the-clock lead capture on the website.
Follow-up sequences that turn past customers into repeat ones.
Campaigns on Google fenced to the service area and judged on booked work.
Keeping the Business Profile complete, current and answered so it earns the map placement.
Site structure, pages and citations that earn organic placement in Wisconsin.
A short call, a free audit of your current listing and site, and a plan built on what actually competes in this market.
Data: US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimates and County Business Patterns 2023.